Wildcats have won three of four since breakdowns vs. Michigan, Iowa

After the team bus pulled into Evanston following a four-hour ride from Iowa City on Jan. 9, Northwestern coach Chris Collins demanded a U-turn. Not from the vehicle — from his team.

It was nearly 3 a.m., but Collins was in no mood to sleep.

During the long ride home, he watched video of Iowa's 93-67 dismantling of his team in which the Hawkeyes scored at will, shooting 56.9 percent overall and hitting 8 of 14 from 3-point range.

What bugged him even more was how the Wildcats got outscored 20-11 in the final 6½ minutes.

"We just gave in," he said. "There and the Michigan game (four days earlier), we got hit with a (late) run and kind of quit."

So before letting his players disperse, Collins walked to the back of the bus and told them things needed to change.

Recalling what he said, Collins told the Tribune: "It's about gaining standards of our program. To see a team for two games not play to the final buzzer, that's what I didn't like. It's about fighting to the end no matter what.

"I told them: 'That's not what this program will be about. As we go forward, we will find fighters, however many guys that is, and go in the direction of the fighters.' That next day in practice, we got to work and got ready for Illinois."

Collins credits his players for their willingness to pull a 180. After three straight blowout losses in Big Ten play, the Wildcats have won three of their last four, beating the Illini, Indiana and Purdue.

During that stretch, NU has allowed just 51 points per game — including two overtimes against Purdue — while holding teams to 29.5 percent shooting.

Two seasons ago under Bill Carmody, the Wildcats had the nation's 16th most efficient offense and 205th-ranked defense, according to KenPom.com. This season the defense is 18th and the offense is 325th.

"It shows that when you put your mind to playing a certain way," Drew Crawford said, "you can do that."

Saturday's opponent is Iowa, which threw the bucket of ice water on the Wildcats 16 days ago.

"We got angry as a team and decided we needed to fight every night," Crawford said. "After that we started to understand what our niche was going to be."

Their niche is a slow-it-down, grinding style with a strangling defense. They are by far the lowest-scoring (62 ppg) and worst-shooting (39.5 percent) team in the Big Ten, but they are also among the hottest.

The turning point came when Collins watched the Iowa replay and thought to himself: What's our next move?

What the first-year coach came up with — "play at a slower pace to try to minimize the possessions, play good team defense, get back and take away teams' layups and dunks" — has keyed NU's move up the Big Ten ladder.